Beyond 'la dolce vita': Italy's uneasy populist coalition (part 1)

As new political winds blow in Italy, FRANCE 24’s Europe team looks beyond the stereotypes in the country of "la dolce vita". It's been almost a year since Italy's populist Five-Star Movement and far-right Lega (League) party joined forces to form a new government, ousting the centre-left Democrats.

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The campaign focused heavily on irregular migration and social issues. Our team investigates the real-life laws and policies that are now coming into being.

From a hardline stance on irregular migrants that’s seen Italy close its ports to rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea, to the cancellation of a "humanitarian visa" that aimed to assist integration, what’s it like to be an immigrant in Italy in 2019? And who is Matteo Salvini, the Lega (League) party leader who’s capitalised on the promotion of such policies?

As the Italian government continues to cause concern within the eurozone with its big-borrowing, big-spending budget, just what policies is the coalition hoping to fund?

And as residents of Genoa struggle to move on from the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in August 2018, can the government keep its promise to make Italians safer?

Join our European Affairs Editor Catherine Nicholson and the FRANCE 24 team in Italy as they travel the country, meeting politicians from the coalition and opposition parties, plus high school students getting ready to cast their first votes in the May 2019 European Parliament elections.